Write a Letter to the Editor – Tips for Writing a Letter

Please consider writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to explain ESEA/NCLB and why it needs to be fixed.  AEA members are the education experts in a community. You are in the schools and classrooms and can speak from experience. You are the ones who can provide direct evidence on how ESEA/NCLB is affecting students, staff and schools.

Here are some suggested talking points to include in a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. These are starting points for you to explain in your own words how NCLB has affected you and your students; and for you to explain how to make the law work.

• Use examples from your experience to illustrate every point – and speak from the heart! Show how much you care about your students, your schools and your community.
• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also called No Child Left Behind, has made a direct, negative impact on schools here in (your community).
• ESEA’s overemphasis on high-stakes testing has forced teachers to spend much of our time on “drill and kill” activities instead of teaching children how to solve problems and how to think critically.
• We have moved from using test scores to help children learn, to using test scores to punish and judge.
• Children arrive in first grade with varying degrees of school readiness. Some children have had access to good nutrition, quality health care, and high quality pre-school instruction delivered by their parents or professional care givers. Unfortunately, many students raised in poverty arrive at kindergarten and first grade with already- pronounced “achievement gaps,” “health care gaps,” and “nutrition gaps.”  If we are serious about closing the achievement gap then we must address all aspects of child development and not wait until they arrive at kindergarten and first grade hoping that high quality instruction will erase years of societal neglect.
• Our highest priority schools need resources, support systems, and targeted interventions to help children succeed. The men and women who work in our public schools, parents and community leaders insist that Congress fix this law now.
• Please join me and contact your United States Senators and U. S. Representative today. Encourage them to listen to the voices of parents, classroom teachers, support professionals, administrators, and school board members to ensure that when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is reauthorized, it lifts children and schools up instead of labeling them as failures.

 
Here are some tips on writing a letter to newspaper editors:

• Letters to the editor or opinion editorials are one of many vehicles to convey messages to the public. There are many other forms of communication, including websites, e-mail, newsletters to your members and the community, and public events and meetings to talk to the public and members.
• Your local paper should contain information about deadlines and length of letters or op-eds. If not, call and ask.
• Letters to the editor and op-eds should be brief and concise. Keep them to three or four main points and avoid personal attacks.
• Speak from the heart and from personal experience. Show people how much you care about your students, your schools and your community. Illustrate with stories from your experience: from the classroom, the school bus, the cafeteria, the school office, etc.